Shattered World
by Cortez Gallega
Summary: The world has been divided into three realms and Olympus itself has been rent asunder, forcing the gods to choose a side in the inevitable confrontation to come. Hades, the mastermind behind it all, sits patiently within his domain, waiting for the pieces to arrive so that he may shape the unprecedented events set to unfold...
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

The period of twilight set its graces upon the Earth, basking the land in a confusion of colours that is not seen at any other time of day. Like classical music it can be most beautiful, and yet at the same time haunting and unsettling. Setting the sky with various hues of dark blue, faint dusty gold and orange and creating a myriad of silhouettes that form part of an unending skyline, on this day twilight plays host to a most peculiar and unexpected gathering.

"Why are you two here?" exclaimed a slim figure, who's only discernable feature in the silhouette formed by dusk is the ever changing hairstyles that never stayed still for more than a few moments.

"No doubt for the same purpose as you. To get the full details of this 'trade' proposed to us. I'm sceptical at best, as one should be wherever he is concerned." replied a male voice before taking a sip from a canned beverage.

"Hmm, quite, dealing with my son-in-law can be precarious, but then again the same be said of the rest of us. Always seeking to gain something, never volunteering the whole truth, at best we are hard to trust." the third and final person gave voice to her opinion, the faint glow from here gold dress causing her black hair to shine, shifting in and out of the shadows as a gentle, but chilly breeze swept past.

The pudgy outline of the male grunted in response before taking another gulp from his seemingly bottomless cold drink.

"What piques my interest is why he has chosen this particular place as our place of meeting?" stated the person whose hair couldn't seem to decide on a single style.

As if in answer to her question, the elongated shadows distinctive of the periods of twilight seemed to converge at a singular point, as if reaching out to clasp at the feet of their master, prepared to fight each other for his attention. At the topmost level of the amphitheatre a dark figure rose slowly from within the shadows and in the immediate vicinity everything became just a little bit darker and a little bit colder, as if the person sucked up what little remained of the lingering warmth still present. Looking down from the vantage his location provided, quick note was made of the obscure outlines of the small mountains that protruded from the horizon to his left. The tall dusky obelisk shape of a lone tree on the hill swaying gently from side to side to his right and just behind the stage of the amphitheatre, upon which the three he called for stood, a valley that ran in between the mountains that now resembled a deep, black gorge that would devour anything as the last specks of light still present in the evening twilight no longer reached it.

To say that the entrance was not a dramatic one in the least would be somewhat of an understatement as theatrics seemed to be an aspect he shared with his brothers. The three looked up at him seemingly unimpressed as they had seen all manner of theatrics over the years that they just became a normal part of dealing with him and his brothers. The only looks he attracted at his entrance were ones of questioning.

"Allow me to explain the circumstances and why I have called for the three of you." he began as he strode down the steps of the amphitheatre toward the stage. "And to answer your question, we are in Delphi as I am sure you know it is considered the centre of the world, the Omphalos Stone attesting as confirmation."

"I thought the Stone was lost to the world eons ago, the real one at least. How can you be so sure that the stone still exists, yet alone reside within the confines of Delphi?" asked the other present male.

"Come now, do you forget what I rule over? I only need to think about it, to feel the presence and location." he replied, stating the simple fact with a disbelieving air as he had not come to expect such simple questions. "As for why it is important, I shall elaborate. The world has been doomed once again in yet another prophecy."

The woman, who now possessed a mess of curls down to her shoulders, stated in a rather irritated voice devoid of all surprise or shock at the revelation, "Don't we get enough of those, why would this one be any different?"

The man stood in front of them and studied all three, which was not that difficult for him considering that twilight had receded quite a while ago and it was now night with barely any light source, save for the weak light emitted by the glowing golden dress the other woman wore.

His reply was long in coming, but with this everything would be revealed. "I have certain plans for this prophecy and I would like the favour of the three of you to assist and support me with this endeavour. Before you start questioning me as to why you would deign to accept my offer, I recommend that you listen closely and that you listen well. I would not ask any of you to do anything without the proper compensation being returned, but before I divulge my plans I need oaths on the River Styx that not another living soul may hear of this."

Their curiosity roused enough to seek to hear more, the promises were made, some more begrudgingly than others as the plans for the next Great Prophecy were discussed in hushed tones. Their whispers were silenced to prying ears by the playful winds snatching and scattering their words to the four corners. So intent and focused were they that for many years they seemed to remain oblivious to the fact that the crescent moon had been slowly rising and noticed the gathering of this peculiar group.

**A/N – Hey, people of the Internet. Saw some people writing fanfics so like the mindless zombie that I am, I made one too. Read, review, promote synergy. I'm also looking for a beta. I had a friend read the prologue and chapter 1, but this is set after the series and she really freaks out about spoilers. BYE!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1 – Shark Shutdown

Two teenagers zoomed along the corridors and hallways that formed part of the palace, a boy pulling a girl along by her hand as she struggled to keep up with his pace. One could just make out the colour of the pale yellow t-shirt and jeans that adorned the boy and the faded red tank top and white shorts that the girl wore before they sped on by, out of sight; both seemed to be about in their late teens. The white marble columns and bas-relief carvings becoming nothing but blurs as they sped past, equal sounds of merriment and distress evident as they fled from their pursuer. They had grown up together within the palace and knew the layout so well they could proceed blindfolded while within the confines of the palace walls. Knowing this the boy deliberately led them down a dead-end hallway and turned to face their pursuer, a two meter long Celestial bronze shark. With merriment and mischievous delight clearly evident upon his face he asked his companion without looking back, "Hey, what are the important bits on a shark?"

Clearly caught off-guard by the sudden question and still battling to recover her senses, his friend replied through haggard breaths, "We-well usually their ey-eyes and gills-"

Before she could finish he was already facing the shark, holding it off with a Celestial bronze trident that appeared out of nowhere, trying to get at the lenses that functioned as the sharks' eyes. "This thing doesn't have any gills!" he shouted. "And these are cameras not eyes!"

"I'm talking about a real shark!" she shouted back.

"Well I'm talking about this one!" came back the agitated reply. Giving up on getting any useful information from her while she was trying to catch her breath, he decided to proceed with his favourite plan of action, making it up as he went along. The metal shark's movements were sluggish compared to a real one, but still fast enough to catch one by surprise given the chance. The side of the shark rippled as it turned towards him, avoiding his trident, ready to sink its' jaws into his flesh.

Knowing that he had to restrain himself from damaging the shark too badly, he decided to remove the fins, thereby effectively removing most of the shark's manoeuvrability. Drawing a dagger from his belt at the same time as the trident burst into a stream of bubbles and disappeared, he willed the currents to propel him forward. Evading the snapping jaws, he focused on the side fins as they would disable the shark's ability to turn. Slicing through metal with metal requires quite a bit of force, but he used a special trick he had developed with his command over water to cut through the fin without much effort on his part. With the left side fins removed, the shark could only helplessly turn in a circle, but as long as it had its' tail it could still follow after them with some difficulty. Proceeding to remove the fins on the right side, he was caught by surprise as the shark's head suddenly snapped in his direction. Thrusting out an arm to shield himself, he felt as the shark's teeth sank into his forearm, grazing the bone. He let out a yell as blinding pain erupted from the wound causing his vision to flicker, the jaws of the shark clamped firmly shut on his arm. Then suddenly the pressure lessened and the shark stopped moving. Taking his arm from the now slack jaws he looked up to see his friend holding the automaton's dorsal fin. Her lips curled into an amused smirk as she floated over him, "Close, but no. This is why we learn to be patient and wait for our friend to give their two cents, especially when that friend knows what they are talking about."

His features replaced by a scowl, he waited as the water helped him accelerate the healing of his wounds before he will himself into an upright position, turning to look at the dorsal fin she held. The fin looked normal, except that the bottom of the fin was hollow as if it was meant to clip into something. "How was I supposed to know?" he angrily remarked "When I asked, you went and started talking about real sharks. As if I don't know enough about those, for someone who claims to be so smart you can be pretty dumb sometimes."

"Hey! Just because my legacy is Athena it doesn't mean I can be cool as a sea cucumber when face with one of my Dad's automatons, Percy. Not all of us are constantly getting into trouble; I can see why you inherited the title of Seaweed Brain."

"Alright, my bad, whatever. Just tell me how you shut this damned thing off."

"No, I refuse on the grounds that any knowledge is simply wasted on you." came the stoic reply.

Looking into her grey eyes with his own sea green baby seal ones, Percy knew that few could resist the look that his legacy had perfected many years ago. Since attaining the ability, he used it sparsely as it was the one weapon that never failed against his best friend. "Please Cristal".

He could see her features slowly resign themselves to defeat as the looks effect took their toll. "Fine, but just this time." she assured herself yet again as this series of events had played out before. "The dorsal fin is like a cartridge from one of those ancient video games from the time before your legacy was in diapers. The programme is loaded into the fin and the shark will act according to what was loaded, obviously this programme wasn't so friendly."

"Geez, when does your Dad make anything that doesn't seem dangerous and armed to the teeth?" Percy exclaimed.

Cristal incredulously looked at Percy before retorting, "Well it doesn't help that you provoke them. Remember the sea cat? That was fine until you can along. So were the sea monkeys."

"Point taken, but who puts the ability to discharge electricity in a cat that lives in a flooded palace, and don't even mention those sea monkeys! Worst thing that's happened to us since the Divide. That toilet will never be the same and how are you even able to do that with nothing but a spatula, chopsticks and some shoe laces. They still give me nightmares!" a shocked looking Percy yelled waving his arms about for emphasis.

"You know that these are only prototypes. It's hard to make automatons that function and move well in water, this was close but not enough to be like the real thing." chided Cristal as she motioned at the almost finless shark doing its best impression of a goldfish gone belly up. "You seem to conveniently forget the role you played on those events and now this one"

"Nothing of my involvement, if any, could be proven. The lack of evidence can only lead to guess work. Besides-"

Just then the water receded from the hallway, planting them on their feet, and a deep gutted bellow rang forth, its echoes bounding around through the many corridors of the palace, "JACKSON". A look of panic settled over their faces as Percy and Cristal locked eyes, they were in trouble yet again, and this time with Cristal's Dad.

**A/N – So that was chapter 1… Banzai! Yay! Throw a house party! Have a whale of a time; Shamu! Please R&R. And no, it's not rest and relax, though I highly recommend doing so**


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